224 SWINE DISEASES 



There may be a general caseous pneumonia associated 

 with more or less pleurisy. 



Tubercular involvement of the nervous tissue occurs 

 in swine, but is relatively rare. One case has been ob- 

 served in which a tubercular center occurred in the 

 cerebral tissue. Tuberculosis of the meninges may be 

 local and circumscribed or diffuse and quite general. 



Osseous tuberculosis is of common occurrence in 

 swine. It is found especially in the vertebrae. 



Symptoms. Tuberculosis is essentially a chronic 

 disease. The onset is usually so insidious that no ab- 

 normality is suspected, and the usual clinical examination 

 of swine is not sufficient to predicate a diagnosis because 

 the symptoms are so indistinct. Lymph-gland involve- 

 ments result in tumefaction. The enlarged glands are 

 not pathognomonic of tuberculosis. 



Tubercular invasion of the digestive organs produces 

 indigestion. The digestive derangements develop slowly 

 and usually only in young pigs. They become unthrifty 

 and emaciated as the disease progresses. 



Pulmonary tuberculosis is evidenced by a dry, short, 

 suppressed cough and by some difficulty of breathing. 

 The cough becomes more aggravated, and the animals 

 become weak and thin and have a rough coat. 



Tuberculosis of the brain, or meninges, is not common 

 and the symptoms evidenced will depend upon the loca- 

 tion of the "lesion. 



Osseous tuberculosis is associated with interference 

 of locomotion and tumefaction of the affected bone. 



The length of the course of tuberculosis is variable- 

 In young pigs it may' produce fatal termination in from 

 two to three months after the onset. Older swine rarely 

 die of tuberculosis, as the disease assumes a chronic form 

 in them and they are usually marketed before the dis- 

 ease has manifested itself clinically. 



Diagnosis. The clinical diagnosis of this disease is 

 practically impossible without the use of the tuberculin 

 test. The lesions may be identified and the disease can 

 therefore be recognized by autopsy. 



